Even The Sun Sets In Paradise
by skyesweetcherry
Summary: Santana hoped to leave Lima and forget about every single mistake she made back at McKinley. Things weren't as easy as it seemed, because now she was forced to return to McKinley and face all her friends... in a wheelchair. Artana & Sebtana.
1. Prologue

**Author's Note: Ever since I saw the Props episode, I had this idea stuck in mind, so I decided to write it off. I want to thank you and give credit to my beta-read (ilovethesoundofviolins) for helping me with this story, and helping me improve my writing.**

**So here it is, and I hope you like the story.**

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**Prologue**

She knew her life would change after that day, but she never thought it would be for worse. After a crazy summer, that involved several breakups, a lot of hookups with random people, partying and not caring about anything, Santana had finally started paying attention to what was in her future: in a few weeks, she was going to be in college, far away from Lima and from all her high school mistakes, trying to mend her wicked ways, because nothing was stopping her.

Or so she thought.

She was going to get a scholarship in a cheerleading college far away, and she would decide on what to do with her life after. But right now in this moment, the only thing that mattered, the one thing that would define her future, was the tryout.

One glance at the mirror, and she knew she was ready. She put up her confidence that for years had grown stronger, despite all the things that she had gone through. She walked right into that gym, prepared to do by far the most amazing trick she knew, but it was the most dangerous one. She had never really done it because she was saving it for this moment, but she felt ready.

She heard her name being announced by a loud speaker introducing her and the college cheerleader squad, people cheering at them. The routine started; she had fierceness in her eyes. Seconds passed, and she was up on that pyramid; ready to do the double flip that would define her future. She felt the adrenaline rush go through her veins, heard the people's voices get louder. But while she expected to fall in strong arms, she hit the floor with a loud and painful thud.

She opened her eyes, and a bright light had made her shut them again. Once her sight adapted to the bright color, she looked around to see where she currently was.

A bright room with light blue and white walls and that common disinfectant smell screamed 'You are in a hospital'. _A hospital_, she thought, confused until her own words sank in. She was supposed to be in a gymnasium, not in a hospital.

"A hospital!" she yelled, startled, trying to move herself, only to find a stabbing pain coming from her lower back, and a headache that was just as painful as the pain in her lower back. Her mother, Maribel Lopez, came right back to her side.

"Santana! You're alive!" she exclaimed those words and took Santana's hands into her own, holding onto them as if there were no tomorrow.

"Alive? Of course I am, but why am I here?" Santana asked confused, but as the words left her mouth, memory struck her.

_The loud 'thud', the pain, the screams, everything blacked out..._

"I failed while doing the flip, didn't I?" she asked her mom, who just nodded in return. Her father was entering the room, holding some papers. She guessed they were hers.

"Good thing you're awake, Santana." he said, letting the papers fall on the table that was next to the couch.

"How long have I been unconscious?" she asked him, giving up on making efforts to try and get up.

"Well, you were awake fifteen minutes after you fell, but the pain was unbearable, so we chose to inject you with a sedative, which kept you sleeping until the next day," he sighed as he took a seat next to his wife.

"The pain is almost killing me, dad. I can't get up, and I can't feel my legs either," Santana indicated, trying to relax back on her hospital bed.

"The pain isn't the worst thing, Santana." her father started, bur was soon cut off by her mother, which just got closer to whisper something on his ear. Her father just shook his head and whispered back something along the lines of 'She deserves to know.' Immediately she knew there was something wrong.

"Just say it; it's not a big deal." Santana spat to her parents, hoping they would be honest with her even if it was just cruel.

"Your fall caused minimal damage to your spine..." he started to say in that voice he used with every patient.

"How bad is the damage?" Santana asked, shutting her eyes.

"I'm sorry to say it, but you're paralyzed from the waist down."

He said the words clear and quick, but still it wasn't helping. The words left Santana speechless; she really didn't know what to say. Immediately, the word 'wheelchair' flooded her mind, but a vague hope came to her heart.

"Please tell me I will be able to walk again, that this is just a temporal injury just like Quinn's accident." She was practically begging to her dad to reassure her that everything would be fine.

"I'm sorry but I'll be blunt to you. This time there is no chance of walking again, not in your case." Her father's face fell, and she could see that this was as painful as it was to hear that information.

Her face didn't show any emotion at all. She just sat there, eyes stuck in the wall. Deep down inside, she started to feel regret.

She thought about the only other person she'd ever known who would be stuck in a wheelchair forever: Artie. Flashbacks started playing in her mind, showing every single time she had insulted him. It just made her feel even worse, because never in her life had she thought she would depend on a wheelchair for the rest of her life.

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**Author's Note: Next chapter coming soon, and please, I'd love if you give a little bit of feedback. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Thanks to all the lovely people who reviewed and liked the prologue! Here's this update, with a slight warning: there's some twist to the story here, but it was for the best. Hope you like this chapter.**

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Santana refused to tell her friends about her incident. Every time they called she would answer normally and she told them that she'd gone far away to study at a cheering college.

That was a lie.

She didn't get the scholarship, and now she couldn't apply to any dancing or cheerleading colleges, due the fact that she couldn't walk. She tried to get into a four year normal college, but they told her she needed to retake her senior year, because her grades weren't enough to get in. She had gotten her chance at a sports scholarship before because Sue had written her recommendation letter, but it wasn't because of outstanding grades. She didn't care much about her grades before, so she took a GED test along with Brittany. Santana passed the exam while Brittany didn't, so Santana dropped out of school without graduating, her GED diploma in hand.

She had to return to McKinley, she knew it. But she couldn't return in a wheelchair. Santana Lopez had left a badass reputation: she went from dating almost half of the male population at McKinley to dating her former best friend Brittany Pierce; she was recognized for her singing, dancing and cheerleading, and also for her rudeness. She didn't want her reputation to be soiled because she made a mistake and failed terribly on keeping her cheerleading scholarship, which made her end up in a wheelchair.

So that's why Annie Austen was born.

She had a plan; over the summer, she got ready to make a new comeback. To retry again her senior year, this time with no mistakes to regret.

She decided to dye her hair light-brown, style her hair into a pulled-back bun and grew out longer bangs. She also decided to replace her contact glasses to get hazel contact lenses and rimmed glasses. She saved her most used, extravagant tops for some sweaters, t-shirts, and her tight, skinny jeans for some normal and loose jeans.

She was ready to return.

Her parents were reluctant, but had agreed into letting her go to McKinley again as someone else.

With some help from her parents, they had made it believable that she was Annie Austen, a transfer student coming from New Mexico, who was involved in a terrible car crash when she was 14, losing the ability to walk again. Her parents talked to the principal, telling him that she had somewhat a case of identity crisis and that now she goes off by a different name. The principal was reluctant at first, but he understood it anyway. She was in the McKinley system as Santana Lopez, but she would be called Annie Austen. So far, only the principal and her teachers knew about it, except Mr. Schue and Sue Sylvester, as she won't be taking Spanish neither Cheerleading classes, so they kept it private.

Her first doubt she had while she was entering the so-familiar building was that maybe people will recognize her, especially the now seniors from Glee club. But luckily no one recognized her.

She was amazed at how things had changed, and how people had changed; Sam was now the official quarter back, and by far one of the most popular guys at school. Blaine still used a lot of gel, but he wasn't sad or anything because Kurt had left (not like Santana expected). He had a somewhat positive attitude. Tina had changed the most, she now was more talkative, and Santana was shocked to know she had taken Rachel's position in Glee club, that now she was the lead female singer and the co-captain of the club. And she couldn't say that she hadn't changed, because she had changed completely, even her own name.

She was at her new locker to get her stuff for her first class, when she felt that someone was next to her. When she turned around, she saw that it was none other than Artie Abrams. She once again felt guilty for all the times she had insulted him, called him a loser, and made fun of his wheelchair. She would have a hard time swallowing her guilt every time he appeared, and it didn't help he was being so nice to her now.

"Hi, my name is Arthur Abrams, but you can call me Artie, and I wanted to welcome you to McKinley High." Artie stretched his hand for Santana to shake it. She just stared at him in silence, still being afraid of how long would it take him to recognize her. "Oh come on, I know it can be a little weird being a student in a wheelchair at this school, and you can get made fun of, but don't worry, stick with me and you'll be fine." He tried to lighten the mood by saying that playfully. "What's your name?"

Santana didn't want to speak at first, afraid that she would say something out of place.

"Annie. Annie Austen," she said in a softer tone, eyeing him nervously. She felt that this was some kind of test to see if her cover was working or not.

"Well Annie, seeing as we have almost the same classes at the same hour," he said, giving a quick glance to her schedule that was pasted in her locker door. "I can explain to you the few basic stuff about the school and how it works."

"Yeah, sure, I'd... love to," Santana finished, and closed her locker door.

The nice words felt strange being spoken by her, because almost nine out of ten words she spoke back last year were insults. As they both rolled to class together, she was relieved that at least her cover wasn't blown up, and that at least she was talking to someone familiar. Maybe she wouldn't be as popular as she was before, but at least she should try and get her old friends back.

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**Author's Note: I'd love to know what you thought about this chapter, so if you have time, please leave me some feedback! :)**


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Santana and Artie sat together in Math class. While Santana knew most of the stuff they were teaching, Artie had some trouble, but he was very intelligent and he was keeping up.

At lunch time, Artie invited Santana to join him and his friends.

"Come on, they won't make fun of you." Artie tried to convince Santana, who said that she was afraid that she'll be rejected because she was transferred. She knew it was because she didn't want to be recognized.

"I guess I'll…" she stopped to think for a second, but then she agreed. "Okay, I'll join you."

They both went to get in line to get some food, and they met Sugar there.

"Hi Artie!" she squealed in that happy tone she always had. "Oh, hi girl! What's your name?"

Santana looked scared.

"Um, my name is Annie," Santana answered in the most polite tone she knew how to use, fixing her glasses.

"Welcome here! I see you are friends with Artie," Sugar said in a really high-pitched tone, and then she turned to wink to Artie. He just blushed while Santana just felt awkward. _Great, my first day and they think I'm dating him, _she thought.

"Sugar," he said through gritted teeth. "Why don't you help me get some food?"

Santana couldn't help but chuckle at Artie's embarrassment. She had never seen him blush because of any comments, and he'd had plenty of those in his last years.

"You wanna get some food too?" Sugar asked Santana, and the latter just shook her head. Sugar went to get the food while Artie and Santana went to the table where everyone else was. As they were in their way, Artie started to question her.

"You're not hungry? I mean, we had classes, and I'm pretty sure you have to be hungry. Only cheerleaders don't eat because of their strict diet," he went on to scold her, and she quickly started to think about a good excuse to tell him why she wasn't eating. Even if she wasn't a cheerleader anymore, her stomach was used to not eat a lot of food, but she knew she had to work on eating a little bit more.

"Oh, I-I am not really hungry right now, I ate some good burritos on my way to school, so…" she said the last part in a hurry, while Artie just chuckled.

"Have a thing for burritos, eh? You may want to join the club," he teased her and just then, they had to meet everyone else.

She was surprised to see that every single member of glee club was sitting together at a table; Tina was rambling about her newest song she had mastered, while Sam was talking to Rory about some good football tricks; Joe and Blaine were talking about some duet that they were going to sing together, and Sugar just came back with the food.

She wondered how she was going to be so nice to these people when she actually hated most of them. She sighed, as she kept searching for one missing member, but she just waited for Artie to introduce her to everyone.

"Guys, this is Annie Austen. She's a transfer student and I met her today, so I invited her to join us." Artie finished his quick speech and after it, everyone started to introduce themselves.

"Hello, I'm Tina Cohen-Chang, and I'm the leader female of Glee club. It would be good if you want to join, we could use some back-up voices now." Tina finished, and continued eating with a smile. Santana thought that she talked just like Rachel Berry. _How did Berry infect her? Tina didn't used to be the person who annoyed everyone, _she thought, but she saved her opinions for later.

"I'm Sam Evans," He just said in his rough, low voice. "Fun fact: I am also a transfer student, but you get used to it easily. Right now I'm the quarterback of the football team, and one of the most popular and sexy guys here at McKinley."

He finished his introduction while he smirked to some random brunette cheerleading that was passing by. _Good to know he'd dropped the habit of quoting weird movies, but has his ego gotten bigger? As far as I remember, he didn't used to be so conceited about himself, s_he started to question herself about him, but she had no time before someone else spoke to her.

"I'm Sugar, and he's Rory. We're dating, and he's one cute Irish boy," Sugar introduced them both while she pinched his cheeks. Rory just made an annoyed face, but let it go. _They were the same as last year, both in a sweet little bubble, _she thought.

"I'm Blaine Anderson, former Warbler, and the male leader of Glee club. Nice to meet you, Annie," he said smiling. _No surprise he was the male lead. Everything had just continued its legacy from last year, The Blaine Anderson and now Tina Cohen-Chang show. S_he smiled anyway at Blaine. Joe just waved at her, and she waved back. She knew he was kind of quiet, so she didn't hate him.

But even then she couldn't help but feel annoyed by everyone, except Artie and she didn't know why that was.

She felt startled when the Cheerios came into the cafeteria, making a lot of noise and celebrating their return. As they parted ways, they made the entrance to their captain, and then appeared Brittany S. Pierce. Santana swallowed down her emotions, because apart from wanting to be in the Cheerios so badly, she missed Brittany. She had lost contact with her during the summer, when Santana decided to break up because she couldn't handle a long-distance relationship.

"Let us hear that applause for the Cheerios! Captain and President for a second consecutive year, here it comes Brittany Susan Pierce!" The room burst into applause, people even standing from their chairs to give her a standing ovation. Even Artie was cheering too.

"Uh, Artie," Santana tried to talk through the loud speaking coming from the crowd. "Who is she?" She wanted to know what had happened to her, because she sat down at a different table, avoiding the Glee club.

"She's Brittany, a Glee club member and the now Captain of the cheerios. She's not very smart, and she was nice and innocent last year, but as far as I know she changed a lot since her girlfriend broke up with her."

"How did breaking up with her… girlfriend… affect her?" she asked, having trouble dissimulating that she wasn't nervous, because she was.

"Well, she cried for almost for a month. We used to help her and cheer her up, but suddenly she decided that she was going to make a big comeback. Now she isn't as dumb as she was before, and she's dating this guy from another school now," Artie explained, and he didn't know what the name of the other guy was.

_So it's basically my fault that Brittany changed, _Santana thought, and she couldn't help but feel bad; about herself, and about Brittany.

"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing that Santana was frowning.

"You know, I still feel kinda strange." She was speaking the truth; she felt strange having to face people she already knew as a different person.

"Why don't you come to Glee club practice? I'm sure it'll make you feel more comfortable, plus Mr. Schue always accepts almost every audition, so you can take a shot there."

Santana considered the option for a minute; she knew Mr. Schue knew nothing about her accident or identity change, so she would be taking a big risk.

"I guess I could try, I mean, nothing bad could happen, right?" she said, the last part more to herself than to Artie.

Later on, they both parted ways to go to their classes, and she felt more confused than she was before. She was regretting coming to school again.

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**Author's Note: I promise next chapter will be better, as a new character that will have a big part on this story will be introduced. As of now, I'd like if you send me some feedback telling me what would you like to see next in the story. Thanks for reading! :)**


	4. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: In this chapter there's an introduction to a character that will stay on this story. It may not be clear at first and it'll be confusing, but I promise to explain everything next chapter. As of now, I hope you like this chapter!**

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**Chapter 3**

Santana Lopez had some kind of déjà-vu as she crossed the classroom door to enter Glee club. She was reminded of the days when she and Brittany would enter these classroom together, holding pinkies for good luck.

While she went to occupy an empty space to sit (which Artie had already reserved for her), she watched Artie whisper something to Mr. Schue, and she thought it was something related to her, seeing as how Mr. Schue was looking at her a little bit confused.

"Okay class, first of all let's welcome our newest member of Glee club, Annie Austen!" he announced, and the other people cheered. She couldn't help but blush, because this was the first time the club cheered for her. When she joined in her sophomore year, they hadn't welcomed her like that. "Now, would you like to perform something, to make your introduction?"

She went dead silent. She was clearly known before for her raspy, powerful voice, and even if she could make her voice lower and nicer, she knew she couldn't change the way she sang.

"Uh…" she said, wrinkling her nose in a nervous response.

"Don't worry, I'll help you," Artie offered, and motioned for her to come to the center. They ended up singing the song Payphone, and Santana tried to pitch her voice a little bit higher, making it enjoyable to hear, and Artie sang the chorus along with her.

After it, she tried not to make eye contact with anyone, focusing on the lesson Mr. Schue was giving.

Immediately when the bell rang, she grabbed her books and rolled all the way to the exit, going to where her locker was. She was looking mostly down, trying to balance the books in the top of her legs so they wouldn't fall, but because she wasn't really looking, she ended up bumping her wheelchair against some tall guy. Her books fell from her lap, and her glasses fell to the floor also.

_Great, _she thought to herself, and bent down where the chair allowed her to and grabbed her glasses, while a pair of light-tanned hands with really long fingers that looked just exactly like a pianist's fingers gathered the books that had fallen.

She looked up to put back her glasses, but her eyes immediately stopped when she made eye contact with the guy in front of her.

Green eyes that hid some kind of hurt. She was sure the pain wasn't because she hurt him with the wheelchair. She knew him too well, she knew there was another reason –or maybe reasons?

Green eyes that she had seen before. How could she forget that look from him that sent shivers down her spine, those eyes that were the first thing she saw on a Sunday morning during the summer? The look where she suddenly felt nervous and felt like she couldn't really lie to him?

Those beautifully, dangerous eyes that were like poison, because they hid so many memories she really didn't want to revive. She felt those green eyes piercing right through her hazel eyes, as if they were burning them, making her feel like her real self.

She felt completely exposed, and Sebastian Smythe was the reason behind it.

"Woah, I-I'm so sorry for almost killing you, I-I really… didn't know where… I was looking…" she stuttered the last part, quickly fixing her glasses, and snatching away her books from his hands. She really wanted to roll away and out from school, and the persistent glare Sebastian was giving her wasn't helping to soothe her nerves.

"Do I know you? You seem kinda familiar to me…" Sebastian said.

The worst thing about Sebastian was that no one could fool him; he had some kind of instinct to when people were lying to him, and when he got curious, he got persistent, and won't back down until he found something out.

"Uh, I guess not, I am a transfer student." Santana said, but Sebastian seemed unconvinced. "New Mexico!" she squealed to try and make it a little more believable, and he just chuckled.

"If we hadn't met before, then what's your name?" he asked, like it was an innocent question, while it was really testing Santana's patience.

"Annie Austen," she said it quick and clear, not making eye contact while she talked. He repeated several times her name out loud, then it came to whispers; she guessed it was because he was memorizing her name.

"Sebastian Smythe," he stretched his hand for her to take it, and when she did, he kissed the back of her hand, just like a gentleman. She quickly snatched her hand away, feeling still the ghost of his lips on top of her hand. She witnessed how there was some spark in his eyes, and she was afraid he was suspecting her.

"Were you waiting for someone?" she asked him to change the topic, before he started to make questions she couldn't answer. Just then, she saw Brittany walk out of the girls' bathroom wearing black high heels, black skinny jeans, and a red and white sleeveless top that showed off her curves, and her hair wasn't in her high ponytail like before.

She watched as Brittany went and linked her arm with Sebastian's, and Brittany looked down at Santana with a pitying look on her face.

"Hey Sebastian, I wasn't expecting you early here." Brittany said. Sebastian still was looking at Santana in her wheelchair, slightly annoyed by the blonde's presence. "I see you have met the new student."

"Yeah, Annie and I just crossed ways and were having small talk," he excused himself.

"Shall we go now?"

Sebastian didn't reply, he was just being pulled away by Brittany. He mouthed a 'Pleasure' to Santana before he was gone.

She watched as the two of them, almost the same height, left the building together. Her mind started to wonder about what was going between the two of them, but apart from all the evidence, she refused to believe Sebastian went after her. _He wouldn't stoop so low as to date her, even if he knew about how it all ended._

"You met Sebastian, right?" a male voice from behind said, and that made her squeal.

"You scared me!" Santana said to Artie, starting to open her locker door to leave the books inside of it. "And I guess I kind of… met him. I almost ran over him with my wheelchair."

Artie couldn't help but chuckle at her. "If I was given the opportunity to do so, I'd gladly do that. I hate that guy."

She half-smiled, questions were flooding her system. "Why do you hate him so much?"

"It's nothing personal, really." He sighed. "Apart from all the crap he made the Glee club go through last year, I still resent him for what he's doing right now."

Santana expected more of an explanation, but Artie left the rest unrevealed, and they both rolled their way out of the school building in silence.

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**Author's Note: Please leave some feedback! I want to know what do you think of the story so far.**


	5. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

A few days passed, and Santana was getting used to being called Annie. She was also getting used to being a little bit nicer, but still sometimes she had to bit her tongue back to not give people snarky comebacks. She also was getting along with some of the Glee club members, to the point of not yelling at them or feeling annoyed.

But especially, she was bonding better with Artie. Apart from having the wheelchair thing in common, they had a lot else in common to talk about. Sometimes they shared tips about the use of the wheelchair, shared some songs and commented on them, or simply helped each other with their problems each day. But most importantly, they had each other backs. Slowly, the guilt she felt at her throat for how she treated Artie before was decreasing, and she wondered how someone could hate him, if he was probably the nicest, sweetest, and most down-to-earth person. She felt relaxed in his company.

She hadn't talked to Brittany since she'd gotten to school. Brittany sent her despising and hateful looks, making her feel unwanted, and also angry. She wanted to get out of the disguise and tell her that she couldn't believe she was ignoring her, but she was someone else.

Concerning Sebastian, she hadn't seen him around McKinley for awhile. Every night, Santana watched as Sebastian called for half an hour to her old phone. She felt bad for not answering, she wanted to do so, and explain everything, but she couldn't take that risk. He would try to find her, and her cover would be revealed. She knew Sebastian, and she knew she couldn't trust him enough.

She was in the Glee classroom talking to Tina about the Sectionals that were coming up in a few days, when she heard that someone had shouted her name in a sweet voice. She immediately turned her gaze to the place where the voice came, and she saw Artie rolling all the way from the entrance to where she was.

"Oh hi, I was searching for you when the bell rang, but I couldn't find you," she said, turning her chair to face Artie.

Tina quietly withdrew from there, leaving them alone so they could talk, but she couldn't restrain a smile that appeared on her face. Artie really looked happy when he talked to Annie.

"I was kind of busy, Math was never my best subject," Artie said, scratching his head in a moment of discomfort. "I wanted to ask you, would you like to join us for coffee this evening? Most of us meet in the Lima Bean weeks before Sectionals come up to discuss the possible musical numbers we can do, and as you're the rookie of the club, I was wondering if you'd like to come."

"Lima Bean, huh?" She couldn't help but smirk. She had been several times for their little after-school reunions that it wasn't surprising her that they still kept doing them. "I'll gladly join all of you."

"Guys, she's joining us tonight!" He yelled across the room to the few people, and they cheered. Santana couldn't help but chuckle, because their happiness was contagious.

"Then she can take my place at the meeting, because apparently I'll be busy tonight." Brittany strutted through the classroom, and sat down at one of the front seats.

"What will you be doing that you don't even have time to come tonight?" Sam asked, clearly tired because apparently this wasn't the first time she had failed to come to said meetings.

"I'll be with Sebastian." Brittany shot a deep look at Santana that clearly indicated that the words were mostly because of her. "Life's too short, and I don't want to take the risk that if I don't spend a day with him, that maybe he could fall into Santana's pitfalls, or _someone else's_."

Santana smirked, the cocky attitude flowing once again. _Wait until you know we're both the same person, Britt, _Santana thought. Everyone sighed, and even commented on how possessive Brittany was being, while Artie just shushed Brittany away, and whispered a '_Just ignore her'_ to Santana.

Santana was really glad that the class was finally over, and she quickly made her way out of the classroom, not waiting for anybody. She went to her locker to take out a few books, and when she closed the door, she couldn't help but rest her head against the door. She took a deep breath, and whispered the words _I really don't know what to do,_ because indeed, she really didn't know. She was going through a moment where she missed her old life, where she could retort and speak her emotions (even though it was in a wrong way), instead of swallowing them down.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Artie's soft voice was heard next to her side, and when she looked at him, she felt a little bit relaxed. She wanted to confide her secret in him, because she had learned to trust him, but what if at the end of it all she ended up disappointing him? She felt his thumb wipe off a tear that was rolling down her cheek. She didn't even notice that she had started to cry.

"Nothing, really," she said with a dismissive hand. "Can we leave for the Lima Bean now?"

"Yeah, sure," he answered and motioned for her to come to the other door, where everyone was waiting for them.

They were having a blast at the Lima Bean. They were talking about pointless stuff, and even watched Sam try to sing Starships, along with Blaine. They were fooling around, and Santana had to admit that she was enjoying it more than she should. They made fun of how Vocal Adrenaline said _higher than any other, _and soon they started yelling it across the coffee shop.

They decided to buy some chocolate cake to eat while they thought of what they could do at Sectionals, and Santana decided to take a bite of it. She couldn't help but eat little by little the piece of cake, enjoying it. It was the first time in years that she had tasted chocolate, and it tasted so good.

"Uh, Annie, you have some…" Artie pointed to the corner of Santana's mouth, and she gave him a confused stare. He wiped off with his thumb some chocolate frosting she had on the corner of her mouth, but when he was going to take away his thumb, his eyes lingered on hers for seconds that felt like minutes.

Santana felt really lost in the moment that she didn't notice how Artie was looking at her, and also how close he had come so far. They were barely inches apart now, but Artie pulled away soon enough before it became awkward.

_What just happened? _She questioned herself while she resumed eating the rest of her piece of cake in silence.

She now was wondering what would have happened if Artie had really kissed her. Would it be awkward? Was she going to push him away, or lean in deeper to kiss him? She couldn't help but watch him from the corner of her eye while the rest of the group talked.

She focused on the table that was in front of them. She saw Sebastian and Brittany talking. Sebastian, nonetheless, was staring at Santana, so when they made eye contact, she just gave a half, but sad smile at him just for courtesy. She tried to not look at their table again, but she couldn't help it.

"Is Sebastian bothering you? I really don't like the way he's looking at you," Artie said, with a frown on his face. He was clearly disgusted by the way Brittany was really close to him, tracing her fingers up and down his neck. _Who would've thought that the innocent Brittany we both dated at some point now was not so innocent? _Santana just shrugged back the thought.

"No, no, I'm really ignoring him." Santana waved a dismissive hand.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, completely sure."

She made sure Sebastian wasn't looking at her again, and then she took out her old phone, and started going through her contacts, until she found his number. She watched as seconds later, Sebastian took his phone, and she watched how he waved a dismissive hand to Brittany when he saw his screen.

_Were you calling me? –Santana_

_**Santana, where are you? I haven't seen you in ages. –Sebastian**_

Santana bit down her lip. This wasn't the conversation she expected to be having while she was pretending to be someone else. Now she knew she should've answered her phone when she was at her home.

_Closer than you think. But I see you haven't had time missing me, as you are now hooking up with Britt. Who would've thought? –Santana_

By the look Sebastian now had on his face, she knew she had hit some nerve in him. She watched as he scratched his head for a moment, but even still, he made it look so sexy, almost painful.

The Glee club was picking up their stuff, ready to leave. She saved her phone in her pocket again, and followed everyone, but not before she sent Sebastian an apologetic look when she passed by his table.

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm in progress right now of writing next chapter, so look out for an update really soon. Meanwhile, if you have time, you could leave some feedback for this story. Next chapter will be a little bit longer than this one, as more events will happen. **


	6. Chapter 5

**Author's Note: As I promised, this chapter is larger, and it has a small flashback to Sebastian and Santana's relationship during the summer, along with a little suprises there. Hope you like it!**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

_People who were sitting at tables around and saw the whole scene must've been feeling sorry for her. Most of them were silently judging her, blaming without knowing._

_All the other people around saw her as the devil in a red dress, but in his eyes, he only saw a beautiful girl who felt destroyed._

_The reason why Santana was crying her eyes out in the middle of the night at Breadstix was because she had to break up with Brittany. She was the one who got the idea to invite Britt to Breadstix, planning it as their last date, because Santana didn't want a long-distance relationship, and even if she still had summer to be with her, she wanted to take those 2 months and a half to be free, and to forget everything. _

_Telling her wasn't really easy. At first, Brittany was really confused, and looked like she was going to burst into tears at any moment. Santana tried to explain calmly, but when Brittany started to insist that they could work it out just like Kurt and Blaine would do, Santana lost her temper. She yelled at her and told her to not complicate things and break it off._

_Brittany left, but Santana stayed in the booth and cried. After a while, she knew there was someone standing in front of her and facing her, though her vision was somewhat blurred. Several minutes later, she felt annoyed, and quickly tried to wipe off some of the tears and the horrid makeup, ready to yell at the person, to tell him to go away and leave her alone (she didn't care if it was a waiter)._

"_Get the fuck out from here!" She said, remembering that some of the crowd was still watching._

_She lifted up her gaze to meet Sebastian Smythe, who was the last person she wanted to see right now._

_Instead of leaving, Sebastian sat in the seat that had been occupied before by Brittany, his arms crossed. He was looking at Santana's face as if it was the most interesting thing he had seen._

"_What do you want? I'm not in the mood to deal with _anyone _right now," Santana snarled, giving him the darkest of glares she could make. Someone else would have run away, but Sebastian didn't._

"_I never thought that Santana Lopez, the girl who nearly kicked my ass after I innocently slushied her, would be crying over something so stupid like a break up," he smirked, placing his arms in top of the table._

"_It's not stupid, I really cared about her," she stubbornly said. "I bet you shed your own amount of tears back then when Blaine wanted to stay with Kurt."_

"_Ah, getting personal with your only company in this miserable night," the comment made Santana look up to his eyes. "I see you play dirty."_

_She couldn't help but chuckle at Sebastian's words. She mimicked his posture. "You were born to play dirty too."_

"_I see you've calmed down already," he pointed out and leaned a little bit closer. "Why won't we go somewhere else? It'd be a loss if you sit here the rest of the night wearing that smoking hot red dress, don't you think?"_

_She knew the meaning of Sebastian's words. She was about to say a snarky comeback and reject the invitation, but what was the point of sitting here crying, and then going home to throw herself a pity party? _

"_Let's go then, show me what you've got." She said, just making his ego grow bigger. _

_They arrived to Sebastian's house (it was past eleven o'clock), and with all of the crying she'd done, she was a little bit horny and tired, and all she wanted to do was to cuddle against Sebastian. As cheesy as it sounded, she felt as if she belonged there, just like they were made for each other. _

"_Santana, we're here," Sebastian told her while flipping up the light switch. He had his hands around Santana's waist, trying to make her walk a little bit. He couldn't take her home because he didn't know her address, and his parents weren't home, so the smartest idea at time was to bring her home, but he didn't count that she'd been sleepy at the time they arrived._

"_It's funny that I'm supposed to be hating you for everything you have done," she chuckled lightly, her eyelids a little bit closer and each second that passed, they were feeling heavier. _

_She looked up, and Sebastian leaned in to press a series of small and soft kisses against her lips. "And even though, here we are, at my house, alone, at almost midnight."_

"_Stop being such a tease," she slapped his chest playfully, and he held her close tightly. _

_His eyes were staring at every inch of her face, memorizing it, focused on those rather forbidden red lips, which he had already kissed. It took him only seconds to press his mouth against her, leaving the softness and modals behind, to involve her into a rather abruptly kiss. Just as she closed her eyes, and she started to respond to that kiss with every sense she had, everything started to fade to black, leaving a soft whisper of her name running through her mind. She remembers Sebastian whispering her name against her neck, and everything shuts again. She remembers how next morning, the first thing she had woken up to was Sebastian whispering her name. And the next time she hears her name being whispered was the last time she had said goodbye to him, promising him that she'd call him after her audition was done._

She wakes up from her dream with tears in her eyes. It was so real to her that it was almost painful, the start and the end of her story with Sebastian summed up in one sequence…

She shakes off the thought of it, and gets out of bed and onto her wheelchair, going off to the bathroom to take a shower and get ready to school.

She decides to skip breakfast, and as soon as she enters the school building, she goes off to find Artie, the only person who can keep her sane. She sees him talking to Sam about something, and without thinking, she yells his name across the hallway.

"Artie!" her tone makes her seem rather desperate, and she looks like a child just when she's rolling all the way to meet him. When she gets there, she hugs him really tight, shutting her eyes.

"Woah, Annie, it's so good to see you," Artie said in his positive and happy tone, returning the hug. "Why were you so eager to see me today?"

"You know, I really missed being around you for the weekend. You're kind of my best friend, aren't you?" she said, still not letting go of him. Even though she wasn't seeing it, the look in his eye changed, as something in his heart fluttered at the words he just heard. People telling him that they missed him wasn't something he was used to hearing.

"Good, because I really wanted to talk to you," he said, fixing his glasses and his hair, which was ruffled because of Santana's abrupt hug.

"I'm listening," she said politely, as they both rolled down to her locker.

"It's more of an invitation, y'know," he started, clapping his hands in an act of anxiety. _I really don't know if I should do this, _he thought.

"Are we going to hang out at the Lima Bean again?"

"Not really, this was more of an invitation of my own." He said, and that made Santana stop picking out books from her locker to look up to him. "Uh… I was wondering if you wanted to go with me to Between the Sheets after school, and then we can go and get some iced-coffee."

She raised her eyebrows and a sly smile appeared on her face. "Is that a date?"

"No, no, no, uh… I wanted to sing a proper duet with you, and as seeing as Between the Sheets is the biggest music store in town, I thought that maybe we could spend some time there, as friends, and then I could buy you a coffee…" he said in a quick voice. "If it was a date, I'd take you to Breadstix, but even if I want to, I can't afford the prices there…"

"Sure, I'd love to go," she reassured him, and continued taking out her books. After that, they both parted ways to their respective classes, Santana chuckling because even if he was denying it, she knew he wanted that to be a date. They had spent little time together, but she knew him too well now.

The day had gone very quickly to Santana, and right now she was entering the Glee classroom to see the girls talking; she decided to join.

"Hi, what are you talking about?" she tried to be nicer, even if she still didn't care much about what they were saying.

"Britt broke up with Sebby," Sugar was saying, and Santana raised an eyebrow, both at the fact that Sebastian and Brittany had broken up, and at the nickname Sugar had for him.

"Yes, I broke up with him. But I doubt he'll pay any attention to you, seeing as Santana finally answered his messages." Brittany said.

"But if you broke up with him, then why is he still outside, waiting for someone?" Tina pointed out.

"Maybe he'll return to his old ways, and he came to search for Blaine. I don't really know, can we just forget him?" Brittany said, and Mr. Schue entered the classroom, announcing new topics and the homework for the week.

Artie reminds her about Between the Sheets at 6, and he leaves her on her own for the first time. Just when she gets out of the classroom, she notices Sebastian standing outside, greeting her with a quiet 'Hi', helping her to push her wheelchair to the entrance.

"What are you doing here?" she says, freaking out on the inside.

"I wanted to introduce myself to you properly, without interruptions," he said, and she could've sworn he was smirking. She knew he wanted something else, because he had never been this charming and polite before.

"Uh, I'm sorry, but I don't think we should become friends, we are enemies, right?"

"We're enemies, but that doesn't stop me. It has never stopped me before."

"I don't get it," she said. He knew he was right, nothing has stopped him before, so the fact that she pretended to be shy, and someone nicer wouldn't stop him right now.

"Would you agree to go to Breadstix with me tonight?" he bursts out of a sudden.

"Why are you inviting me out for dinner? I'm just a stranger to you, and your rival, and you are planning on paying a fancy dinner, wasting your money on me?" she retorts back.

"Yes?" he says, making it sound more like a question. "My family is really wealthy, so Breadstix isn't a big deal. In fact, I go to that restaurant every week."

After some seconds of silence (and the guilty feeling that Artie wanted to take her to Breadstix but couldn't afford it), Santana decided to agree.

It was 4: 30, and Santana was ready to go with Artie. Still, she knew that she could only be at one place at a time. It was hard to decide for her because she wanted to give Artie a chance, because she wanted to be near him, and because he was just so sweet that it brings out the best in her.

But the fact that Sebastian was still in the picture made it very difficult to let go. She missed him (even more than she missed Brittany right now), and she just had the opportunity to talk to him after a long time since they had talked.

There was a knock on the door of her room, and her mom entered.

"What's wrong, San?" Her mother asked her, which Santana only sighed in return.

"Everything."

"You want to change to another school? We can get you into an exchange program and-"

"Mom, school's fine." Santana said.

"Then why are you upset?"

"I'm torn. Torn between Artie and Sebastian. Both of them invited me to a date today, both dates in different places, and I want to go to both. But it feels like I'm going to end up disappointing someone."

"You could either choose between one of them, or you could go to both."

"But how do I go to both?"

"Talk to them. Change the hour of the date, so they can fit into the schedule, and you could go to both of them. Either way, sooner or later you'll have to end up choosing someone, because you can't be with both of them at the same time," Santana's mom said and patted her daughter on the shoulder, leaving the room, but stopping halfway before leaving.

"Also, you forgot Santana's phone at home. It was buzzing all day, Sebastian kept on calling you."

Santana decided to ignore it, and take out her "Annie" phone to call Artie. She asked him if they could meet at five because she had a family meeting late at night, and he agreed happily.

Before leaving, she decided to call Sebastian (from Annie's phone), asking him if they could meet at Breadstix at 8 instead of 7. It takes him some time, but he agreed anyway.

She left her house a little less nervous, focusing her attention and her mind into Artie, and her date with him. She knew she'd be at peace with him, and she was more than ready to go with him.

* * *

**Author's Note: I'm almost done with school, so maybe you can expect a new update either this weekend, or until next week's weekend. Probably, the next chapter will be larger (I already started writing it), and will have the expected dates. Hope you have liked it, and please leave me some feedback! **


	7. Chapter 6

**Author's Note: Here is Chapter 6! I know it was a little bit late (a week late), but I had some little trouble because my beta got a little busy with work, and she couldn't beta this story as often as before. I want to credit my new beta, Cassie (Life is Like a Novel) for helping me out with this updates. As I said on Tumblr, Chapter 7 and 8 are already written, they just need to be corrected.**

**Also, if you want to see spoilers/want to know what happened to this story if it doesn't update, you can visit my Tumblr tag for this story (colfer-controlled . tumblr tagged/even the sun sets in paradise).**

**Thanks for waiting for the update and for the feedback, and here is your long awaited chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

Santana arrived to the music store and saw that there were a lot of people sitting on the available chairs reading and practicing some lyrics for a song, while others were looking through the aisles for new songs.

After a while, her eyes landed on Artie, who was around the piano watching and listening to an old man play a sweet melody. He concentrated on the man's fingers as they slid swiftly across the piano keys.

"I never imagined that you liked to play the piano," she suddenly spoke, coming unexpected, and he turned his head around to greet her with a smile.

"I'm a versatile guy. I can go from rapping to some song to singing some romantic ballad," he said. "Sadly, I can't play the piano, but I do know how to play the guitar."

"So, you've got any ideas for the song that we're gonna sing this week?" Santana asked changing the topic, rolling across to the nearest bookshelf that held the newest Top 40 lyrics.

"This week's topic is Believe, so I guess we could sing some Beatles song…" Artie suggested moving to the Classics side of the aisle.

"Why don't we sing this one?" Santana said holding out a sheet music that read "_Accidentally in Love" _on the cover. Artie raised an eyebrow at the suggestion, but Santana rolled out to ask the piano man if he could play that song, handing him the sheet paper.

While they sang an acoustic version of that song, they managed to create a romantic environment in the store, with couples hugging while they clapped along the music. Artie's voice was so sweet that it managed to give a new vibe that the original artists didn't reach, and for Santana… she felt as if someone had finally opened her eyes again to a new and safe opportunity.

At the end of the song they were fooling around; going around in circles with their wheelchairs, and sending each other flirty but still innocent looks. They stopped, and as the crowd clapped, Santana rested her head against Artie's shoulder.

"We definitely have to sing this at Glee club," she said between laughs. "If Mr. Schue was giving coupons for Breadstix like last year, we'd have won them."

Artie lifted his head to stare at her, confused. "Wait, how did you know about the duets contest?"

It was right then when she noticed her slip-up. "Uh, Tina mentioned it to me when we were talking," she lied. _Why am I so distracted? I almost blew my cover! What is happening to me? _She thought, and continued to mentally scold herself.

"We can continue looking for other songs if you want to," Artie suggested, heading down again to the aisle. They continued looking for other songs, and when Artie saw a song he recognized, he started to tell her the story behind. Some songs she knew the story to (mostly because she had sung it with him last year, like "Blame it on the Alcohol" or "Light up the World").

"Oh, I love this song!" Santana said picking up a sheet music that read "_Isn't She Lovely" _on the front cover. Artie blushed at her song selection, and smiled as he shook his head. "You've already sung this before, right?"

"Well… yes. Back in my sophomore year, when I wanted to invite Brittany to Prom," he explained, and Santana put back the sheet paper on the shelf. _I didn't know about this, Brittany never told me, _she thought.

"You dated Brittany?" She asked, wanting to know more about the stuff they never told her. She knew that this wasn't the right moment to ask about their past relationships, but she needed to know.

"Yeah, we started dating in the week when the Duets contest was made. At first we had our ups and downs, but then she demonstrated that she really cared for me."

"And why did you two break-up?" Santana asked after, knowing what the answer will be.

"I was, um, jealous that Santana was trying to break us up, and I accidentally called Brittany stupid," he lowered his head and looked at his hands. "Calling her that was one of the things I regret in my life."

"Sorry," Santana spoke without thinking; the guilt was building up again, and she needed to apologize, because even if Brittany was happy when she and Santana started dating, she knew that in the process to win Brittany's attention, Santana accidentally broke Artie's heart.

"You don't have to be sorry. Someday I'd have mentioned this to you," Artie said.

"And that girl, uh, Santana… Do you… do you hate her?" Santana asked.

"Even though she made it very clear that she hated my guts, I don't hate her. I'm sad for her, actually."

"But how can you do that?" Santana was exasperated. _Why after all I've done to him, he doesn't hate me? _"How can you not hate someone who was evil, and made your life miserable all the years she studied at this school?" Santana was mostly confused, but she hated herself right now for the damage she had created before.

"I don't hate her because she was just a girl who pretended to be someone aggressive, when in reality, she was scared of not being accepted," Artie said calmly, and Santana raised an eyebrow. "You see, it takes time for people to accept you, and while some of us may take the high road and try our best to ignore the bullies, some may become a bully to prevent themselves from hurting. We were just the same, underdog people, with the difference that I took the high road and she took the aggressive way to deal with this."

Santana expected a whole lot of other answers, but she was never expecting this.

"You seem to read people like a book. How can you do that?" _And how have you not figured out already who I really am? _

"I don't know. I just figured," he shrugged his shoulders. "Do you want to go and get something to drink?"

"Yes please," she rolled down to the entrance quickly before Artie could stop and see more lyrics, and when she got outside, she took a deep breath to steady her emotions. They went to a local ice-cream store in which Artie paid for the order, and after that, they decided to go to the park.

"Artie, what do you really think of me?" She asked.

"Oh wow, well," Artie started chuckling, because she had took him by surprise with the question. "I think you are a really nice and beautiful girl, Annie," he took her hand by surprise. "May I ask you the same question in return?"

"I think you are the only nice guy in school and the only one that I learned to trust in such a short time," Santana said.

"Well, it seems that I have the same effect in other people, but-" he was cut off by Santana who quickly inclined her head to give Artie a sweet kiss on the lips. She tried to make it soft, nice, not like the rough ones she was used to before, and after she ended with the kiss, she whispered the words "_Don't think that, you're special," a_gainst his lips.

Artie was looking at her; she looked guilty, biting her lower lip. He didn't know what to really say, even if he had wanted that to happen too, and they kept quiet for several minutes.

_Oh God, what was I thinking? I can't just kiss people out of nowhere just because I think they're special. What the hell did I have in my mind? _Santana started to worry, thinking that she had made their friendship something awkward. She wished Artie would say something, to know what he was thinking, but not a single word was spoken.

She got startled at the sound of her ringtone; she had set up an alarm to remind her that she had to leave early. _Oh fuck, I forgot Sebastian… _

"I've got to go," she said in a hurry, and turned around to start on her way home, and he didn't even say goodbye to her.

For the first time in years, the rejection was overwhelming her, and she felt a tear slip down her cheek.

"Annie!" Artie yelled, and Santana stopped halfway for a bit. "Don't leave!"

Santana wanted to turn back, but she knew it was getting late. _How do I go back, if I had already made a fool out of myself?_

"I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow at school, probably," she said, her voice cracking at the end. "It's getting late, my mom may be wondering where I am," she rolled her eyes at the stupid excuse she had made up, and continued going on her way.


	8. Chapter 7

**Author's Note: **This update was officially 1 week later than I had planned to (because it wasn't beta'd), but finally it's here! As I promised, the Sebastian and Santana date is here, you don't have to wait anymore. I want to thank you for the support this fic has been receiving, all the reviews and the alerts, I really appreciate it. Also, I want to thank my new beta, Courtney for helping me with these chapters (and with the rest of the fic). Now I won't take your time from reading this update.

**NOTE:** I changed my Tumblr, so now the updates/spoilers about the fic will be at: kevinmcwanky (that's my Tumblr URL), and type /tagged/even-the-sun-sets-in-paradise

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**Chapter 7**

"Stupid feelings- they're the reason most people are weak these days," Santana said aloud to herself while getting ready once again to go to Breadstix. She knew her feelings for Artie weren't particularly strong, that she just had a silly crush on him, but still hated the fact that they made her feel vulnerable, like a lost child who didn't know what to do.

Santana's phone rang; it was Sebastian. She ignored the call as long as she could, but the phone kept ringing and she was becoming impatient. If she answered, there was a chance that he'd recognize her voice later when they met at Breadstix.

"Oh, to hell with it." She was beyond annoyed, so she answered, putting the call on speaker. "Snixx here, what do you need?"

"_Great way to treat the boy that you were madly in love with during the summer, Santana," _Sebastian teased, and Santana held back the smile that wanted to creep on to her face.

"What do you want Sebastian? I'm busy," she replied stiffly while she applied some light make-up.

"Busy doing what?"

"None of your business- and I could ask you the same, seeing as you're already dating other people."

"I wasn't really dating Brittany, and you know it. It was just a one-time thing; she came up to me and said that she'd make me forget you but I know that's impossible. No one can make me forget those red lips that-"

"Don't, Sebastian, don't continue please," Santana put the call on private once again. "I've got to go; some girls here on campus asked me to hang out."

"Well, bye. Good luck with finding someone who can top what I can give to you," Sebastian snapped, and Santana's cheeks burned. She hung up without another word.

* * *

Sebastian had already reserved a table for two. He was wearing a white button-down shirt and black pants that screamed 'Rich Guy'; the cocky smile plastered on his face completed the look.

"Hi Sebastian," Santana greeted him, smiling pleasantly. When he finally looked up from his phone, he couldn't tear his eyes from her. She worried that he may start to make assumptions about how similar she looked now to Santana due to her make-up and hair, so she scoffed uncomfortably to bring his attention back.

"I seriously thought you wouldn't come tonight," he said smoothly before chuckling and helping her with her wheelchair.

She had to admit that it wasn't the greeting she'd been expecting. "Why?"

"You seemed uninterested, like you had something better to do..." Sebastian broke off when he saw that she was already raising her eyebrow. "It doesn't matter what I thought before; you're here."

She laughed lightly and looked down at the menu, quickly noting the high prices. "Are you going to tell me the real reason behind this invitation for dinner, or am I supposed to guess?"

"You remind me of..." Sebastian paused as he noticed how she ate her first bread stick rapidly, and images of Santana during other dates came to his mind. "...someone," he finished vaguely, taking a bread stick for himself and laughing at her voracious appetite.

"What are you laughing at? I'm hungry," Santana protested in her own defense before she resumed eating. "Why don't you tell me more about this person that I remind you of?"

"I don't think you'd know her, so it'd be pointless..."

"We're just friends who came to this restaurant for a fancy dinner, so I don't see a problem with you telling me about other girls that you've dated."

"You remind me of Santana in some aspects. The way that your skin looks, the way you sing, the way you eat, even your stubbornness about coming tonight." His gaze was set on her eyes, but she could tell that he was lost in his own thoughts.

"You must still love her," Santana stated while taking another bite of bread. "I can tell by the way you talk about her."

"That doesn't mean I can't date other girls," Sebastian retorted, cocking his eyebrow. She knew exactly what he meant, and she sighed.

"Look, Sebastian, it's fine for you to move on and date other girls, but I'm not the right person," she started. "I'm just a girl who wants to graduate high school, and I'm not even your type from what I've heard."

"I promise not to disappoint. I _have_ what girls like," he sent her a teasing wink, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes to take the attention off her blushing cheeks.

"Jerk," she replied, wiping the corners of her mouth with one of the cloth napkins.

The waitress came to take their order, and even if it was expensive, Santana ordered a full plate of spaghetti because she needed to focus her anxiety on something, and it might as well be eating. She couldn't afford to get nervous and do something stupid in front of Sebastian, not again.

Sebastian kept asking questions about her past; how did she deal with the fact that she'd never walk again, how school was back then, how she felt while being here at Lima… she tried to be as honest as possible while answering the questions. Sebastian added a dirty pickup line every once in a while, and Santana had to say that she missed this- the teasing, the fighting... She knew that what they had in the past was something really dysfunctional, but there was still the spark that ignited the relationship in the first place. Not everything was missing, and she could only hope that maybe someday Sebastian would accept her as Santana, the girl who had an accident and lost the ability to walk, and not as Annie, the girl who came from an exchange program and supposedly paralyzed since she was 14.

"Want me to give you a ride home?" Sebastian asked her once they were out of the restaurant.

"No, thank you, I'm capable enough of going home by myself," she declined his request, and started on her way to find her mother's car already waiting for her. He watched her until she was safe in her car, and he couldn't help but remember when Santana used to leave alone back when they were dating.

That night, neither Artie nor Sebastian slept well- though for completely different reasons: Artie because he really didn't understand Annie's feelings for him, and Sebastian because memories of Santana staying at his house after a drunken and dark night were running through his mind.

* * *

**Author's Note: **I'm a little curious about knowing your opinion, so I'd like to know: What date did you like better? Artie and Santana's or Sebastian and Santana's? Please drop your answers in the reviewing box that it's below, leaving a little feedback. Thanks!


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

_Is this what it's going to be like for me? Girls not taking me seriously because I only come up to their waists? I'm not some eunuch on wheels. Just because my legs don't work doesn't mean the rest of me isn't ready for love. I don't want to be alone forever._

The words that he had spoken to himself back in Valentine's Day were replaying in his head as he rolled down the hallway, his eyelids feeling heavy for the lack of sleep. He was tired of girls not taking him seriously, and he was afraid of being cheated on again (like when Tina left him for Mike, or when Brittany left him for Santana), or being friend-zoned, just like Sugar did on Valentine's Day, or Quinn when her accident happened.

He had to admit, there were some hidden feelings for Annie deep down in his heart, but to protect himself from being hurt again, he chose to ignore them and pretend that they didn't exist.

The kiss had complicated everything in his mind; he was taken by surprise and it didn't give him time to respond. He _knew _he should have kissed back, that he should have stopped her from leaving like that, but at that moment he couldn't. Once he returned to his house, in the privacy of his room, he started thinking on what he should have done.

Despite not sleeping at all the night before, his only worry was what Annie's reaction would be when they met again.

"Dude, what happened to you? You look like crap," Sam pointed out as he joined Artie to go to History class. Artie looked up at Sam, giving a half-reassuring smile before he spoke.

"I'm fine, I just didn't sleep at all last night." Artie waved a dismissive hand as if it were nothing, but at Sam's raised eyebrow, he elaborated. "My thoughts didn't let me sleep; I was up all night thinking."

"That happens to me all the time," Sam said, drifting off to his own about the only girl that his mind (and heart) cared for: Mercedes. The topic died down as they arrived at the classroom and were forced to be quiet, but still the worry didn't leave Artie alone.

* * *

It was lunch time when she spotted him; he was half asleep, his head resting on top of the table as his friends talked to each other. She rolled down quietly to where he was, greeting everyone else first, and after their attention wasn't on her anymore, she shook his shoulder gently to wake him. He was startled, and when he lifted his head to see who had woke him, he found Annie smiling at him.

"Sorry," Annie said looking down to her hands because there was still something awkward between them. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

"Yeah, yeah, sure," Artie said, fixing his glasses and unlocked the brakes of his wheelchair. They both started rolling out of the crowded cafeteria, going out to the empty and quiet halls.

"Looks like you didn't sleep well," she pointed out, still not looking at him. She was looking for ways of approaching the topic of what happened last night, but she didn't know how. She was hoping he would bring it up.

"Yeah, I had a bad night," he said without thinking, and after the words were out, he realized what it sounded like. "I'm sorry, I don't know what I'm saying- I'm not saying it was a bad date, in fact I enjoyed it, but-" he sighed in desperation because he was just babbling. He cursed his lack of sleep because it made him seem drunk, even if he hadn't drank anything at all.

"I'm sorry about the kiss, I really don't know where it came from," she whispered, biting her lower lip.

"You don't need to apologize, y'know," he assured her, giving a sleepy smile.

"I _do, _because I really don't know…" she started to get desperate and stopped to regain the calm. "I'm confused. I-I am really confused, and I need to set out my priorities, but until I do, I… I really don't want to lose you and your friendship."

_You're in the friend-zone once again, _were the first words that came to Artie's mind. He wanted to tell her that she didn't have to worry, that he felt something inside him, and that they both could figure this out if she wanted something more, but instead he stayed quiet. "Don't worry about it; we can continue being friends as if nothing had happened, right?"

Santana wanted to disagree with that, but she decided to silently nod. _Maybe this is as awkward for him as it is for me. He probably just thinks I'm a friend and nothing more, _she thought. They parted ways without another word, but their thoughts were running wild inside their heads.

Santana's mind was over-thinking about dating Artie; how would it be and how would it feel? She remembered telling him years ago that the only thing he could give to Brittany was super-choice parking and nothing more. She remembered how she couldn't understand what Brittany used to see in him, she was even disgusted. But now, what did she feel? What was with him that made her feel attracted, and not in a sexual way, but in an emotional and caring way?

But once again, wasn't she in love with Sebastian? She thought Brittany was the one, but then she realized that it wasn't true; she just liked Brittany because she was the only person that made her feel loved, but then Sebastian came right after Brittany left.

She used to hate him so much because of the humiliation when he'd slushied her. She remembered that moment when she'd closed the door to her room, started cursing in her foreign language, swearing she would get revenge on the meerkat asshole.

She learned that hate and love were similar emotions; both were strong and passionate and could sometimes be mistaken for each other. She grew to believe that she was frustrated because she couldn't have him; because he was gay and well… she was too at that time.

She had to admit that even if she tried to cover her feelings with lust as an excuse, she indeed loved him. And she knew that deep down Sebastian also loved her, even if they were both too proud and stubborn to admit it. She was sure of it.

But then, why, if she was sure that they both loved each other despite their destructive relationship, was she feeling so confused about Artie?

_Feelings are worse than math, _she thought bitterly as she slammed her book closed with more strength that she had intended to.

* * *

**Author's Note: **As I promised, updates will be coming now once a week! I considered this chapter a little bit of a filler (but it isn't). I now have gotten Storybook (which is an amazing program that helps me organize the story without getting lost), so I tend to write & keep/throw ideas away, so for more updates/additional content, keep updated on my Tumblr (kevinmcwanky). A playlist is on the works.

**IMPORTANT STUFF:** Also, this fic will be in 3 parts. I have already planned everything, and around on Chapter 11, the part 1 will be done. You'll see later why I say this is divided in parts. Basically this will be around 30/40 chapters long, I haven't decided yet.

_Please leave feedback on what you think about the new changes for this story! Bless you all and hope you have a good day! _


	10. Chapter 9

**Author's Note: **This chapter was one of the few chapters I enjoyed to write a lot - mostly because this chapter was from Sebastian's perspective (I just have a lot of feelings about his character, don't mind me), but also because we're getting closer to Chapter 10! Big promises coming next chapter.

Also, I read a Guest review today, and I wanted to reply (If you have an account, please log in and review, so I can give you an explanation). He/she was telling me about the sebtana/artana preferences in this fic, and I wanted to say, the final isn't written yet. I have an idea of how this is going to end, but I haven't written it yet. Yes, I ship artana, but I'm also a hardcore sebtana shipper. You'll just have to stay and see what will happen. Now without another thing said, I'll let you read the update.

**Songs performed by the Warblers:**

-Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself) - Ne-Yo

-That Girl by Not Like Them (for Kevin McHale's fans...)

**Songs performed by the New Directions:**

-I really don't know much about broadway stuff, so Tina's solo is undefined

-Everybody Talks by Neon Trees

* * *

**Chapter 9**

_I've hit rock bottom, _Sebastian thought as he got ready for Warbler practice. Sectionals were coming soon and it was up to him to earn the Warblers a victory now that their other powerful voices were gone. It was the first step to reaching Regionals and beating the New Directions.

Even though he knew he needed to focus, his mind was somewhere else, wondering what was happening with Santana. She answered his texts, but she didn't want to meet him or tell him anything about the place where she had moved. He was getting tired of her evasiveness.

Even when the Warblers started rehearsing one of the songs on their set list, Sebastian was still distracted. His moves weren't as smooth as usual, and his usual easy smile was replaced with a scowl. His voice was perfect as always, but the emotion behind it was gone. Nick and Jeff sent a knowing look to each other as they approached Sebastian.

"Seb, are you alright? You seem gone," Nick pointed out while the Warblers took a 5 minute break.

"I'm _fine,_" Sebastian snapped, storming out of the room, officially cancelling the rest of the Warbler practice.

He went straight to his car, not stopping to hear what Nick and Jeff were yelling behind him. When he finally reached it, he pulled out his phone and started dialing Santana's number. He waited on the line hearing several tones, cursing out loud because she wasn't answering. Just as he was about to hang up, she picked up.

"Hey, Sebastian," she answered in a soft and calm tone, and Sebastian sighed before he could take out his anger on Santana.

"Santana, are you coming for the Warblers sectionals?" Sebastian decided to jump straight to the question that had been bothering him during Warbler practice.

"I can't, Sebastian, I'm busy all week… practicing. Cheerleading is a really dedicated sport, you know," Santana said, just as she had been saying these past months.

Sebastian ran a hand through his hair in frustration- he just wanted to see her again, but it was clear that she was doing everything possible to avoid him. He took a deep breath, and he made sure that Santana had heard it.

"Sebastian, it's not my fault, I don't control the practice schedule, I already warned you, but you refused to listen-"

"It's fine. Anyway, your presence there isn't necessary," Sebastian decided to give up and put up his arrogant attitude.

She was starting to complain about some cheerleading crap, and he hung up on her because he couldn't deal with another cheerleading speech. He dropped his phone on the passenger seat, and drove away to his house.

When he got home, he finally checked his phone once again and saw several missed calls and a text from Santana saying that she'd "try to be there, but wasn't promising anything." He smirked and turned off his phone.

If he was the same Sebastian from months ago – the arrogant and the so called 'womanizer' and 'man-whore' – he would have refused relationships; right now he would have been fucking some random person, or either going after Blaine just to piss Kurt off, or he would have called Brittany to accept her offer. He was so stupid because he had blown all of his chances just because of Santana.

There was only one other person that could occupy his mind apart from Santana, and that was Annie Austen. He was so… interested in her, as if she was some kind of new mystery that he hadn't solved yet. He knew that she wasn't the type of person to fall for his 'Charm, fuck and leave' motto. As weird as it sounded, he had some kind of respect for her.

But he felt that something was wrong with her – he felt as if he had seen her already before, somewhere else… he decided to spend the rest of the evening searching in old albums and in his laptop for something to give him a clue of where he had seen her, but he didn't get anything. Irked, he gave up on it and went to sleep early, but even then, thoughts about both Annie and Santana clouded up his mind for the rest of the night.

It was the Warblers sectionals, and as soon as they saw their competition, they were sure that they were going breeze through. _At least we can win Sectionals, _Sebastian bitterly thought after memories of when they lost against New Directions last year came to his mind. Their performance went by smoothly, and at the end of their number, he scanned the crowd, but he didn't find Santana.

He was going with the rest of the Warblers to take a seat, but he was held back by a hand that had stopped him. It was Annie.

"Annie? What are you doing here?" Sebastian asked, clearly taken aback for her presence.

"I figured I could come to these Sectionals to see how the competition would be for my team," she joked, but Sebastian stood still with a raised eyebrow. "The Warblers put an effort in that song! You guys made most of the girls in this auditorium swoon!"

"Why thank you," Sebastian chuckled. This was a boost for his enormous but recently wounded ego. "The guys came to the stupid conclusion to sing a love song for Sectionals because they wanted to impress their girlfriends…"

"I guess you dedicated it to Santana."

"No, what- what makes you think that? She isn't here anyways," Sebastian said crossing his arms – because deep inside he had agreed to sing the song because he had hoped Santana would come, but he'd never admit this anyway.

"If she was _here_, she'd be _proud_ of you," Santana said.

And _she'd probably tease me forever for the type of song I let the guys choose_, Sebastian thought. "I'm glad you came, even if it was to spy on us."

"I was joking about it," Santana said, but with the noise from the other show choir performing, Sebastian couldn't hear her, and by then he'd gone to sit down.

Sebastian was truly surprised. He didn't expect Annie to come today – he didn't even expect her to talk to him again after their date. She had made it clear to him that she wouldn't date him, but then again, why was she here?

He found himself staring at her – she was wearing a light-pink floral, long sleeve button down shirt, and black jeans. As always, she was wearing her glasses, had some light makeup and had her hair in a bun.

When it was announced that the Warblers had won first place, the trophy was handed to Sebastian, and while he held it high while the rest of the team were jumping up and down, some crying from the happiness, Sebastian couldn't help but wish Santana was here. He unconsciously landed eyes on Annie, and saw that she was clapping, with a smile on her face. Sebastian returned the smile to her and motioned the trophy to her; the missing feeling wasn't overwhelming him anymore.

"I feel like I'm going to faint," Sugar exclaimed in a high-pitched voice while she was trying to breathe. The New Directions were so nervous, because they counted with Rachel's voice before, but now that she was gone, they weren't so sure that they were going to win.

They were announced, and Tina came by first. She was going to sing a Broadway song she had been rehearsing this month, but even she was nervous. This was her first opportunity to sing in front of a big crowd, and she knew all her team counted on her.

Santana remained in a corner backstage by herself; for the first time in her life she was nervous. Mr. Schue had practically forced her into doing a duet with Artie, but she wasn't so sure about the choreography. She hasn't had much experience with the wheelchair as Artie had, and she hadn't rehearsed much, mostly because some days she was absent from Glee club – because she either had to go to a doctor's appointment, or simply because she felt exhausted.

"Annie, are you ok?" Artie rolled to where she was, putting a hand on her shoulder as reassurance.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just nervous," Santana said, turning around and preparing herself for the performance.

"You're gonna do great, I'm sure of it. You have an amazing voice, don't worry about the choreography." Those were the last words Artie said to her before Mr. Schue shooed them to get in their positions.

Santana rolled her way to the center of the stage, and started singing the first lines of the song. She was wearing a dress just like her Nationals dress from last year, but this time it was bright pink (she silently cursed Sugar's obsession with said color), and her hair was in a pulled-back bun with her bangs. Artie was soon by her side, and as soon as he was there, Santana started copying Artie's moves. She focused more on singing and having a smile on her face, and by the time the rest of the group came into the stage, she didn't have to move much.

It was almost the end, so both she and Artie went to the back of the group to let Tina hit those high notes, because Santana had refused to sing them. She was still afraid to be recognized.

Tina came next to them, dancing while she did so. She removed her microphone to speak to them. "Annie, you have to sing the high notes," she said between breaths.

"What? No, I can't!" Santana whispered back to Tina. "You're the one in charge of that!"

"I am having trouble singing while dancing, I feel like I can't breathe! You're our only hope!" Tina said back, before returning to the dancing routine.

Santana glanced back at Artie, more nervous than ever. He just gave her a half-reassuring smile, squeezing her hand. She sighed and went to the front, where Tina should have been, and proceed to finish the song with those high notes. She did so without trouble, and as soon as she ended, the crowd was on their feet, clapping loudly to them.

She had that déjà-vu feeling, when she had sung "Valerie" in her Junior Sectionals. She couldn't help but let a smile creep up on her face as the rest of the group congratulated both her and Artie for that number.

The winners were released, and the New Directions had won. She was more than happy because of it, and as the rest of the group celebrated, she went and practically threw herself over Artie to give him a huge hug.

"We did it, Annie! We did it!" Artie yelled with excitement.

"I know," she whispered and closed her eyes, continuing to hug him tightly. She was glad that no one had noticed how similar her voice and Santana's were. At least that was what she thought.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Thanks for sticking up with me, and for the reviews and alerts! I don't know when I will update (probably from this week and the other week), but it'll be soon.


	11. Chapter 10

**Author's Note: **Sorry for the long wait! This chapter would make up for the two weeks the story didn't update. Hope you like the chapter!

**Songs that I used for this chapter: **

-Too Close by Alex Clare

-I Gave You All by Mumford & Sons

* * *

**Chapter 10**

One month had already passed since they won Sectionals. The whole club was relieved that they were able to win by themselves, and the whole school had cherished them, just like the time they won nationals. The football jocks didn't bother the glee club anymore - they had respect for them as they'd earned a National trophy that got the school recognition for once.

Sebastian hadn't called or sent her a text message since he asked her to come to Sectionals. She guessed that it was because he was mad at her for not coming, because after all, she had to give Sebastian some credit for the effort the Warblers did to perform those songs. It must have been heartbreaking for Sebastian to see that the first time he was trying to give a special performance for her, she had failed to show up.

The fact that she hadn't heard anything about him was freaking her out. He wasn't hanging around the Lima Bean anymore, and he wasn't texting Annie or Blaine.

Meanwhile, things were working out so much better for Artie and Santana – they were hanging out a lot more than usual, and she still got those fluttering feelings she never liked because they seemed childish for her. She almost kissed him once again when they were at his house, working on a history project, but she backed out before things between them could get awkward like the last time.

They were all in the glee classroom, spouting out ideas on what to do for Christmas, as the season was approaching in less than two weeks. So far they'd made up the playlist they were going to sing.

"Mr. Schue, if I may?" Sugar raised her hand politely, waiting for Mr. Schue to acknowledge her. He nodded and she stood up and went to the front.

"As some of you might remember, my birthday is this Friday, so you're all invited to Sugar Motta's Eighteenth Birthday Extravaganza Party," she happily announced, clapping her hands. "All of you have to bring a date, because as I said before, in my world, single people don't exist."

Santana couldn't help but roll her eyes while everyone cheered – sometimes she couldn't stand how obnoxious Sugar could be, throwing big parties out of nowhere. Mostly she wanted someone to hate on to unload her frustration, because she wouldn't be going to this party.

Santana would have never missed a party in her entire life. She had always gone to every single one of them, never missing anything gossipy-worthy. Sometimes she would keep dancing until she passed out or just keep drinking until it was over.

This time she would be in a wheelchair; she wouldn't dance, and she wouldn't drink, because if she had some trouble keeping up with her lies when she was sober, she would spill everything if she was drunk.

Artie searched for her hand and squeezed it tightly, just like he always did when he noticed something was troubling her. She stayed silent until the class was over and they were all free to go.

"What's wrong, Annie? You didn't seem happy at all when Sugar announced her party," Artie pointed out.

"Nothing's wrong, I just won't go to the party, that's all," she answered.

"Why not? I thought I could count on you as my date!" Santana quickly sent a look at Artie, and he realized that he just asked her out on a date, and he couldn't help but feel his cheeks burn with heat. "I-I mean, we are friends and all..."

"As much as I'd love to go with you, I can't. Parties are just... not my thing," she shrugged and started on her way to the exit door.

Artie chased and stopped her before she could leave. "Come on! Nothing bad could happen, right? Besides, you will be with me. I can take care of you perfectly, if that's what you're afraid of."

She bit her lower lip as she saw that he was practically begging her to go. She had nothing else to do besides stay home, zapping through the channels because there was nothing good to watch on a Friday night.

"I guess I'll... give it a try." Her lips curved in an enthusiastic smile, and Artie's expression revealed that he was relieved that she had accepted.

"I promise you won't ever regret going," he said and they both rolled out of the building.

It was confirmed: Sugar was a total spoiled rich brat. For starters, her house – screw that, her mansion – was huge. The loud music sounded everywhere, and colored disco lights flashed from the windows. There were people everywhere – the ones that were arriving and she couldn't even imagine the tons of people that were inside.

It took her a good reassuring talk from her mother about the outfit she decided to wear. Because she couldn't take the risk of using Santana's clothes, she had to go for something classier. She was wearing a short, sleeveless emerald dress that revealed some amount of cleavage, her hair was curled, but still it was held up in a bun, with a few curls let loose, and her long bangs. She didn't wear much makeup; she applied some mascara, eyeliner and light emerald eye shadow to match her dress. The only thing she decided to wear after all this time were a pair of skyscraper emerald heels with a few strokes of silver. She may not dance, but at least she would have the pleasure to wear them.

She looked a little bit older, but still she looked stunning, in her opinion. Without further thought, she entered the house, only to find a worse mess of people inside. Sugar was on the top of the stairs along with Rory. They were both taking some pictures for her birthday photo shoot. Sugar was wearing an extravagant strapless red dress that was layered, and it did look as if it had come out from a fairytale. Rory was on her side, wearing a black, elegant tuxedo, trying to put on his best smile for the cameras.

She had trouble finding people she knew – she found Sam and Mercedes together first. Apparently she was back for a few days and decided to spend them with Sam. She then spotted that Kurt had also came back to be with Blaine. She couldn't say hello to either of them because they didn't know her as Annie.

She was getting worried and was considering on leaving, until a familiar wheelchair was approaching her.

"Wow. Annie, you look..." Artie stopped to contemplate Santana's outfit. She knew the words that were coming, so she gave him a sweet and genuine smile.

"You also didn't stay behind, though," she said as she took the time to analyze what he was wearing. He was wearing a white button down with the sleeves rolled up just below the elbow, and he matched it with black pants and with suspenders. She also noticed that this was probably the first time he had undone the first button of his shirt. She had to admit that he looked handsome. _He's kinda sexy underneath the niceness_, she thought and lightly blushed.

"Do you like the party?" he asked her.

"Yeah, the party's pretty cool... though I would like to dance, even if I can't," she let out a chuckle due to the irony of her words.

"Who said you couldn't?" Santana was about to point out what was clearly obvious, but Artie took Santana's hand, and he spun her wheelchair in a circle. "That may have been crappy, but hey! It's something."

She couldn't help but let out a silly laugh due to his actions. Neither could dance, but he was doing his best to cheer her up a little.

"Artie! Long time since I last saw you!" A sweet voice that belonged to no other than Quinn Fabray exclaimed. She started to walk up to where he was, leaning down to give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

Santana sat there awkwardly, watching as both of them talked about what has been recently happening on their lives. She decided to go and search for someone else, probably Tina.

She knew Quinn and Artie were best friends since last year when Quinn's accident happened. They had promised to stay in touch, no matter what happened. She wasn't jealous, she understood that between them was just friendship, but she couldn't help but want to have a similar strong bond with him.

"Annie, you're looking good today!" Blaine exclaimed while he and Kurt moved to the song's rhythm. She was kinda freaked out at first because Blaine hadn't talked to her a lot since she entered the school, but she decided to roll closer to hold a conversation with the couple.

"Thank you Blaine, I was actually looking for Tina," she said.

"Artie's already arrived. He looked eager to see you," Blaine then winked at her, which only made her lower her look at the implication of Blaine's words.

"He's talking to Quinn, so I decided not to interrupt them," she said, turning her wheelchair around to leave, but she stopped because Blaine continued talking.

"I see you've met Quinn, huh? Isn't she a sweetheart?" Blaine said in an awed voice, but she noticed another slip-up. She had never talked to Quinn today, and she deliberately said her name as if she knew her since forever. She was thankful that Blaine wasn't sober enough to continue questioning her.

"Talking about meeting people, meet Kurt, my boyfriend, as known as the most talented and beautiful guy in the entire Ohio state," Blaine grinned, and hugged Kurt. The latter warmly smiled at her, holding out a hand for her to shake it.

"Pleasure to meet you," Kurt said in a polite tone.

"I'm Annie Austen," she smiled, shaking his hand. After the introduction, she took the opportunity to leave as Blaine continued to describe Kurt with the best adjectives that he could recall.

She didn't find Tina anywhere, so she decided to return to where Quinn and Artie were still talking.

"Oh Quinn, this is Annie, the girl I told you about," Artie sent a smile to Annie, and Quinn turned around to look at her. She knew Quinn was mostly analyzing her to see if she approved of her as girlfriend material for Artie – after all, that was always Quinn's favorite pastime – but still, she felt nervous.

"Hi Annie, I'm Quinn Fabray. I'm sorry to have interrupted both of you," she was smiling all the time. She turned around, mouthed something to Artie that Santana couldn't hear, and then she left.

"She's been my best friend since last year – we were catching up on stuff that's happened to us recently." He tried to apologize for ignoring her when Quinn arrived, but Santana waved a dismissive hand, followed by a 'No problem' to reassure Artie that it was fine.

Santana found herself staring at Artie's lips again. They looked tempting for some reason, but this time she controlled herself so they won't end up just like the day in the park.

Artie was thinking the same thing – he wanted to kiss her, but he didn't have the courage to do so. He simply didn't want things to get awkward, but he realized that it was just about damn time he had to make a move to know if he would get an actual shot with her.

Santana had lowered her sight, looking down at her hands, but Artie lifted her chin slowly with his fingers. He looked into her eyes, and gave her another reassuring smile, just like the one he gave her that time at Sectionals.

He inched his lips closer and closer to hers, still waiting for some kind of warning from her. She was eagerly waiting for his move, but he stopped to talk to her, even though they were just inches away from each other.

"You look absolutely beautiful," he whispered to her. She could feel his hot breath against her lips. And that was when he kissed her.

He started by going slow, as any first kiss should go, but Santana was the one who had the trouble. She was so used to french-kissing that it was hard to keep herself from using her tongue or nibble his lower lip.

After a few seconds, they broke apart, but instead of completely letting go, they just looked at each other, their foreheads touching, while Artie put a hand on the right side of her face, stroking her cheek lightly with his thumb.

This felt different from any experience Santana had had over her teenage years. It felt just like the first time she kissed someone, an innocent kiss that had more meaning behind.

"I…" Santana tried to say something, to explain somehow to both of them why this was happening. She couldn't find the right words, so she leaned in again, closing the distance and kissing him. She knew that this time both of them wanted it, so nothing was stopping them. She wrapped her arms around his neck, the fluttering feelings coming back, and she couldn't help but feel pleased right now.

Meanwhile, Sebastian was watching the whole scene from a safe, far distance. He couldn't stand how 'Annie' was kissing Artie. He swallowed the rest of his drink, and left the glass somewhere. It was kind of a big bruise to his ego and pride, to let the girl that was _his_ be kissed by someone else, in front of his face.

This was the first time in months Artie had truly enjoyed something. This feeling – not only kissing her, which was an amazing feeling for him – knowing that he finally had found someone right for him. He didn't want to stop, but a scoff was heard coming from someone watching them, so they had to break apart.

Artie was ready to tell anyone who was standing there to give them a little privacy, but when he looked up, he saw none other than Sebastian standing there. Yes, actually Sebastian had the courage to walk up to the couple to talk to them.

"You know," Sebastian started, crossing his arms. "I also went on a date with you, _Annie. _I think you missed the kiss part."

"Sebastian, it was months ago-"

"Your date with him was months ago, too. You're kissing him."

They continued fighting, and Artie had no other option than to leave them alone for a few minutes so they could sort their differences. "You know what? I'll be right over there getting a drink…" he said and started on his way.

"Sebastian, it was just a date! You didn't have the right to walk over and disturb our privacy!" Santana exclaimed.

"I'm sure as hell it wasn't just _one date_," Sebastian retorted.

"Well, that and the auditorium one, but we haven't spoken since that time!"

"I'm not talking about those dates," Santana had no other option than to raise her eyebrows at him, clearly confused. "_You know what I'm talking about._"

Without further comment, Sebastian left her sitting there, annoyed and confused. _I don't get what he's talking about! Unless… no_, she refused to believe that Sebastian had figured it out so soon.

She needed some time to think alone, so before Artie returned, she made her way outside to the backyard, where the pool was. The beaming light that came from the pool was somewhat relaxing, and she was lucky enough there was no one outside.

Even if she was unsure about her feelings for Artie, it hurt her that Sebastian had reacted that way. She knew in the first place that contacting him would be a mistake, but she couldn't help herself back then; she missed him and the only thing she wanted was to spend some time with him.

Tears were starting to form in her eyes, and she cursed her emotions silently because it would make her eyes look puffy. Instead of containing the tears, she let them roll – her makeup was waterproof, so she wasn't worried about it. The chill air hit her skin, and she undid her bun to let her curly hair fall on her shoulders so she wouldn't be so cold anymore. She wished she wasn't alone in this, she wished she had someone to rely on, someone of her friends who could help her putting up all this, this show!

Her sobs were diminished as she heard loud footsteps behind her.

"I never took you for the crying girl," Sebastian, who was the source of the footsteps, said. She sniffled, and swallowed so she could say something to him.

"But who would have known? Santana Lopez is always full of surprises." She froze right in the spot. Her teary eyes were replaced by a cold glare, and she turned her wheelchair around to see Sebastian standing much closer than she expected, wearing a serious look on his face; no smirk, no teasing, he was dead serious.

"How long did you…" she left the sentence unfinished.

"A while," he responded bitterly. "How long did you think _this_ would last without me finding out?"

"Look, can we talk somewhere else?" He stood still with his arms crossed. "I promise I'll explain everything to you."

"We'll leave in my car," he said through gritted teeth, turned around to walk inside the house, where he got lost into the crowd again.

Santana couldn't help but sigh because she was in a predicament – once someone found out, she knew she would have a lot more trouble keeping up. She quickly did her bun again, and got inside the house, rolling to the entrance. On her way out, she saw Artie and they both made eye contact for some seconds. With a sad smile, she kept rolling until she finally reached the door, meeting Sebastian again and with Sebastian's help, she got inside of his car to go.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Eh, I hate cliffhangers too, but I had already told that some shit would go down in this chapter, and that would be Sebastian finding out. More details to come next chapter!


	12. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: **Thank you guys for the amazing reviews for last chapter! Also, guys, Artana can't break up because they aren't officially together, so don't worry Artana shippers. This chapter, eh, it's kind of a continuation for the cliffhanger, meaning that it'll be the last chapter for Part 1 that was "Santana adjusting to the basic changes of living a double life and having to use a wheelchair." I'll focus on other stuff next chapters. ;)

Big thank you to all the readers for sticking up with me and I'm sorry because the updates have been having a 2-week difference - school is being hard with me. Now enjoy!

**Note:** Songs you may want to hear while reading this: Starring Role - Marina and the Diamonds. (It is inspired a bit on that song)

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**Chapter 11 **

Neither of them spoke as Sebastian drove to Santana's house. He figured she would still be living in the same place as she had months ago with her family, so he just drove there.

Santana often glanced at Sebastian's expression, but it was unreadable; he had his lips in a tight line, his cold gaze was fixed on the road and his shoulders were tense. She rolled her eyes and rested her head on the window, trying to distract herself by looking outside.

"So… how long have you know?" Santana broke the silence when she could stand it no longer.

"A while," Sebastian replied tersely, not even bothering to look at her.

"Are you going to actually talk to me, or just sit there with that expression?" she snapped at him.

"Sectionals. I decided to return _Annie _the favor by going to her sectionals, but when you were performing, I recognized your voice." Santana couldn't help but bite her lower lip because of the anxiety; if he had noticed her voice, then how many other people might know by now?

"I didn't know right away, I just knew there were so many similarities with you and Annie, so…" he gave a loud sigh and shook his head before continuing. "Instead of calling you, I took my time to drive right away to Louisville. When I asked for you, they told me you haven't even entered to the college; they told me that you'd dropped out due to a severe injury.

"It was then when I was driving back to my house when I realized that indeed I only set my eyes on _Annie _because in some twisted way it reminded me of you." Sebastian went dead silent for the rest of the drive, and Santana silently cursed the Louisville University for their faulty privacy protection.

Luckily when they arrived at Santana's house, her parents weren't home yet, as it was Friday and her father worked until midnight, while her mother had some formal reunion she had to attend. Sebastian helped Santana out of the car and onto her wheelchair so they could enter her house.

She wheeled herself to the bottom of the stairs and looked up to Sebastian, who was waiting for her to go upstairs with her wheelchair on her own.

"What?" he snapped at her when he finally noticed she was staring at him.

"You need to carry me to the second floor. I'm not able to go upstairs on my own. I could, if I had more experience or if I had a ramp," she calmly explained to him.

She expected him to start ranting about what she just asked him, but instead she was greeted with a "Never been a problem before," with that teasing smirk that had been always on his face back in the summer. He lifted her from her wheelchair, and carried her in his arms bridal style, completely forgetting the wheelchair downstairs.

He walked upstairs quickly, and when they had gotten to her room, he opened her door and settled her down in her bed, only this time he went to sit on the other side of the bed at the edge instead of sneaking up at her side.

Santana felt like she was right back to a few months ago, when they had done this several times before they had mastered the habit. She wondered if all this was an act, maybe he wasn't really angry at her.

"I still don't get why you're doing all of this," was the only thing Sebastian said before he returned to his cold expression. "It's not like people at McKinley are some sick bastards that will laugh at someone in a wheelchair."

"Sebastian, you don't get it. If I had returned to McKinley in a wheelchair as Santana Lopez, I would have been the biggest joke. For years I've been laughing and calling Artie names because of the situation he's in. I used to go from Stubbles McCripple pants, to telling him he could only give someone else a super-choice parking deal. I could bet you one hundred bucks that they'd have no mercy and would laugh at my face. I just can't handle that."

"So you think lying to everyone is better? What will you do if your entire act goes down? Then you'll _really _be the greatest joke_. _"

"You can't say anything about it. If there's something inside of you that still somewhat cares about me, keep your mouth shut, Sebastian," Santana tried to warn him, but it came out like begging.

He stared at her for some long seconds before replying. "I pity those who are taking your bullshit. As for me, I'll keep my mouth shut."

She rolled her eyes but still let out a heavy breath that she had been holding ever since the ride home.

"Still I don't know why you didn't tell me anything even when you knew I'd be the first one to find out," Sebastian wondered aloud, letting his resentment show this time.

"Because being with me would require helping me. It'd mean that you would have to do some things more often like carrying me upstairs, helping me with little stuff because I still don't have enough experience with this- this thing."

"I could've helped you," he murmured under his breath.

"How could I be so sure about it, if the only thing that clouds your mind when you're with someone is sex? When I was supposedly in Louisville, you couldn't wait for me to return and you went to find comfort in Brittany.

"You and me, we aren't the people who usually care about feelings and other shit like that, but the difference now is that I actually had to resort being someone like that to get on with my life, so I didn't expect you to care at all about me anymore. I _had_ to change, you didn't."

"If you'd told me before, at least I would have tried to help you," Sebastian retorted. Santana was about to say something else, when a voice that belonged to none other than Santana's mother called her. She and Sebastian exchanged startled looks, Sebastian giving her a look clearly asking how they were going to explain his presence, because Sebastian had been told to not visit Santana at nights after he'd been caught by her father.

"Shit, you forgot my wheelchair downstairs!" Santana cursed as she realized she was stuck in her own bed.

"Santana, why is your wheelchair downstairs?" The sounds of someone coming upstairs were heard, and Sebastian calmly walked up to her bathroom and closed the door. Santana's door opened; her mom set her wheelchair near her bed.

"Who brought you up here?" her mom asked with concern.

"A friend, but he's already gone."

"Did you have fun at the party?" Her mom opened her closet and got out some pajamas to give to Santana so she could change from her dress.

"Yeah, but I got tired so I asked for a ride home." Santana wanted to get her mom out of her room as quickly as possible, so she tried to answer just the necessary.

"Are you feeling alright? Maybe it wasn't a good idea to let you go when you have so little experience with the chair," her mom started getting worried about Santana's state, but she cut her off.

"Mom, I'm fine, I just want to get some sleep," Santana answered, closing her eyes for a bit so she would sound convincing.

"It's okay. Buenas noches mi niña," Maribel went and placed a kiss on top of Santana's forehead and then she walked out of the room. It passed several seconds before Sebastian came out of the bathroom, but he no longer had the scowl on his face.

"Go back into the bathroom, I need to change," Santana ordered him in a quiet tone.

"There's nothing I haven't seen before, babe," Sebastian said with a smirk on his face, holding out his hands in a 'Sorry, I'm not sorry' attitude. She didn't hesitate to grab the nearest cushion and throw it to him, but he avoided it by closing the bathroom door.

She proceeded to change into her pajamas while muttering something in Spanish about the comment that Sebastian has made before. She wasn't really mad at all; in fact she was sort of relieved that at least someone outside of her family knew of her accident, and that she could spend more time with him… if he didn't decide otherwise, of course.

After she was ready, she called out Sebastian's name so he would come out of the bathroom.

"I guess your father is coming soon," Sebastian pointed out, while Santana just nodded.

"You can stay here for the night if you want to. It's Saturday after all, and my father never comes in my room anymore," she offered, taking the rest of the pillows and small cushions that were on the bed and throwing them at the floor.

"Fine," Sebastian quickly agreed and went to the other side of the bed, kicking off his shoes before lying down. They both stared at the ceiling, wanting to ask questions because the whole situation was confusing for them. What were they doing right now? "You never told me the real reason behind your accident."

"Tryouts at college. I wanted to impress the judges so I tried a flip that I've never done before, but I ended up falling from the high onto the gym floor hard because I slipped from the guy's arms who was supposed to catch me," she chuckled at herself because she had survived 3 years of hard training with Sue Sylvester, yet she couldn't survive to a 3-minute tryout.

"I'm sorry that things didn't turn out well for you," Sebastian said after a while.

"Don't be; I'm still alive and moving on with my life, which is the only good thing that came out of that incident."

"Do you… do you have a thing going on with the other guy in the wheelchair?" Sebastian ended up awkwardly asking what has been on his mind ever since he's seen them kissing. Santana didn't know what to reply, because she didn't even exactly know what she was feeling for Artie. After the kiss, she knew that indeed Artie felt something similar for her, but neither of them had spoken about it.

"Sebastian, just go to sleep." She turned to her left side so her back was facing Sebastian. Sebastian just lay there, looking at Santana's form like he had done many times before. He figured that she'd have her reasons for not telling him what was really happening, so he let her rest without asking any more questions, even though both of them had a similar question in mind: do they still care for each other as they used to?

Santana woke up the next morning thanks to the morning light that came through her window, and even though she expected Sebastian to still be lying next to her sleeping, he was actually gone, no note left behind. She sighed as she thought that maybe Sebastian had made his decision, she thought that maybe he just wanted to know what had happened with her before he could move on. She lay down again in the bed, thinking that maybe Sebastian left so she wouldn't feel guilty at all if she tried something with Artie in the future.

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**Author's Note: **Sebastian won't be gone, I promise! I can't say goodbye to one of my favorite characters. The ending to this chapter broke my heart, and I'm still crying. Oh well, next update will be coming soon!


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